He was a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component party of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

[1] Before entering federal politics, Abdul Ghapur was active in Sabah state politics, initially as a member of the Sabah People's United Front (commonly known as BERJAYA).

[2][3] Abdul Ghapur was elected unopposed to federal Parliament in 2004, for the newly created seat of Kalabakan on the border between Malaysia and Indonesia in East Sabah.

[5] He again spoke out against the federal government for what he considered to be its slow response to the invasion of part of eastern Sabah by Filipino militants in 2013.

At the same time, he criticised UMNO's internal election process as being open to corruption, claiming that "people will do anything just to get on the Supreme Council even if it’s very expensive".